Porcelain - Lyrics & Discussion

[dcdeb]

It's hard to breathe
My knees are weak
It's a cold bath
And i can't feel my feet

Porcelain
It's the state that I'm in
Hold me carefully
Just one breath could shatter me

'Cause you and I
We're one of a kind
Unbreakable
How was I supposed to find
Out that I'd crumble

Porcelain
Porcelain

It's a small cry
That is screaming inside
It's a paper cut
That is bleeding me dry

Porcelain
It's the state that I'm in
Hold me carefully
Just one breath could shatter me

'Cause you and I
We're one of a kind
Unbreakable
How was I supposed to find
Out that I'd crumble

Porcelain
Porcelain

Porcelain
It's the state that I'm in
Hold me carefully
Just one breath could shatter me

[Manon14]

It's quite amazing how he's managed to make a song called 'Porcelain' sound so fragile indeed. Beautiful song, like a tiny piece of art, as he's described in his Italian track by track video.

[Alyara]

Aw beautiful song! I agree with Manon, it sounds fragile, couldn't have found a better word. Just one thing... what does this line mean?

 

'Cause you've an eye

We're one of a kind

 

 

 

I thought it was 

 

 

'Cause you and I

we're one of a kind

[Manon14]

 

Aw beautiful song! I agree with Manon, it sounds fragile, couldn't have found a better word. Just one thing... what does this line mean?

 

'Cause you've an eye

We're one of a kind

 

 

 

I thought it was 

 

 

'Cause you and I

we're one of a kind

 

 

It is. "You and I were one of a kind"

[DongDong]

One of the beautiful songs from MIKA! This song should in the standard tracklist,not just as a bonus track

[Alyara]

It is. "You and I were one of a kind"

Ah okay. As I saw it written like that in the first post, I thought I was probably mishearing, but I wasn't sure about the meaning.

[Kezza]

Trying to hold off on listening until my CD arrives.... aaaaaahhhhh!

[Elwendin]

This song's probably ending up on my "never listen again" list. 

I'll give it another listening or two tho, just to be sure. 

[kat75]

wonderful lyrics.

[Elwendin]

I forgot to add that it reminds me of Over My Shoulder, I think you all agree on this, and I just found out that's true, he told it himself (but I like Over my Shoulder more). I like these lyrics but I'm not into quiet songs lately....

[dcdeb]

I thought it was 

 

 

'Cause you and I

we're one of a kind

 

 

 

It is. "You and I were one of a kind"

 

 

OK. That makes more sense to me, and that's what I thought it SHOULD be, but I hear a V sound in there. But if it says you & I in the lyrics booklet, I'll go with that!

 

 

 

This song's probably ending up on my "never listen again" list. 

I'll give it another listening or two tho, just to be sure. 

 

Other people have said that to me, but... there's something about it that really speaks to me. 

 

 

I forgot to add that it reminds me of Over My Shoulder, I think you all agree on this, and I just found out that's true, he told it himself (but I like Over my Shoulder more). I like these lyrics but I'm not into quiet songs lately....

 

Yes, it really reminds me of some of the early unreleased demos that were leaked years ago. I like it quite a lot. 

[Chrissie]

one of my favorite song from his new album. 

[Manon14]

OK. That makes more sense to me, and that's what I thought it SHOULD be, but I hear a V sound in there. But if it says you & I in the lyrics booklet, I'll go with that!

 

I've been listening to it and I think that V sound is because he first sings "You" in his chest voice with a lot of air, which also makes it sounds more like "shu" (less so than what he did in Heroes, "shu blood on me", but still a little), and then he continues in falsetto with "and I" and I think that transition between airy chest voice and falsetto is what you hear. Perhaps he even pronounces a tiny V or W like "You-w-and I", either to make that transition smoother or to chain the words together to make it sound more flowy.

 

Or I'm just over-analyzing things

[skiwi]

I love this song

Really fragile, it starts as something floating for me...

Love his voice and the mellody

[Alyara]

I've been listening to it and I think that V sound is because he first sings "You" in his chest voice with a lot of air, which also makes it sounds more like "shu" (less so than what he did in Heroes, "shu blood on me", but still a little), and then he continues in falsetto with "and I" and I think that transition between airy chest voice and falsetto is what you hear. Perhaps he even pronounces a tiny V or W like "You-w-and I", either to make that transition smoother or to chain the words together to make it sound more flowy.

 

Or I'm just over-analyzing things

His pronunciation is weird at times. Even in Good Wife when he says ''two seater sofa'' I keep hearing ''sofar''

[Manon14]

His pronunciation is weird at times. Even in Good Wife when he says ''two seater sofa'' I keep hearing ''sofar''

 

Yeah the (British?) "r" after every A... I've heard it quite often with "idear" too, my English teacher would always say that, though she has an Australian accent.

But as far as I'm concerned his pronounciation has always been a bit odd

[Christine]

Yeah the (British?) "r" after every A... I've heard it quite often with "idear" too, my English teacher would always say that, though she has an Australian accent.

But as far as I'm concerned his pronounciation has always been a bit odd

 

I think Mika doesn't always do this after an A sound but because the next word is a vowel the R links them together. And yes he has had some weird weird phrasing in his songs for sure. I think this "sofar" for "sofa" though is natural for many Brits though, like you said unlike some of his other odd pronunciations that are Mika inventions.

[tiibet]

This is one of my immediate favorites! Very much Over My Shoulder style (which I have always loved) 

[Alyara]

Yeah the (British?) "r" after every A... I've heard it quite often with "idear" too, my English teacher would always say that, though she has an Australian accent.

But as far as I'm concerned his pronounciation has always been a bit odd

  

I think Mika doesn't always do this after an A sound but because the next word is a vowel the R links them together. And yes he has had some weird weird phrasing in his songs for sure. I think this "sofar" for "sofa" though is natural for many Brits though, like you said unlike some of his other odd pronunciations that are Mika inventions.

Aaah now I see. I didn't know that as my English teacher wasn't a native and she never mentioned this to us. My English is self-taught for the most part (as you can probably tell, it's far from perfect) and I'm more familiar with American accent since it's what I usually hear in movies and such. British accent was gibberish to me until only a few months ago, now it's getting better, but there still are lots of things I don't know yet, so please bear with me if I point out obvious things or ask dumb questions.

[Christine]

   Aaah now I see. I didn't know that as my English teacher wasn't a native and she never mentioned this to us. My English is self-taught for the most part (as you can probably tell, it's far from perfect) and I'm more familiar with American accent since it's what I usually hear in movies and such. British accent was gibberish to me until only a few months ago, now it's getting better, but there still are lots of things I don't know yet, so please bear with me if I point out obvious things or ask dumb questions.

 

Oh don't worry about it. Coronation Street is a very popular soap opera in Canada so my parents watched it for years and I watched along. Between the northern England accents, the British cultural references and the slang I seriously had no idea what they were talking about half the time. It took years for it to sound like I was listening to people speaking my native language. The funny thing was that I didn't even realize how much I was missing until later on when I started understanding everything. I seemed to just block things out when I didn't get them rather than consciously thinking about how a particular word or phrase didn't make sense to me. It wasn't until I actually lived in the UK and could get all of the cultural references that I really understood 100% of the dialogue.

Edited June 13, 2015 by Christine

[silver]

This is one of my immediate favorites! Very much Over My Shoulder style (which I have always loved) 

 

Same here

[Alyara]

Oh don't worry about it. Coronation Street is a very popular soap opera in Canada so my parents watched it for years and I watched along. Between the northern England accents, the British cultural references and the slang I seriously had no idea what they were talking about half the time. It took years for it to sound like I was listening to people speaking my native language. The funny thing was that I didn't even realize how much I was missing until later on when I started understanding everything. I seemed to just block things out when I didn't get them rather than consciously thinking about how a particular word or phrase didn't make sense to me. It wasn't until I actually lived in the UK and could get all of the cultural references that I really understood 100% of the dialogue.

I must've missed your reply as I'm only reading it now. Anyway yeah, I understand that feeling way too well. Being an English lover, I always try to get as much as I can and it's so frustrating when I miss some words or am unable to get a joke or something like that. I feel stupid and I think it can be bothering if I ask too much, therefore I just drop it at times. But it's so good when people take the time to explain

 

Now back on track, I really love this song deeply, it still makes me cry if I listen to it when I'm sad, he described that feeling of defencelessness so well. My favourite lines are ''Hold me carefully, just one breath could shatter me''

[kreacher]

One would think if Mika was gonna use any bit of China Boy in a new song it'd be this one xD (not that i think it'd necessarily work and i love Porcelain the way it is, but the lyrics do have similar "fragile" themes)

 

 

 

This is one of my immediate favorites! Very much Over My Shoulder style (which I have always loved) 

I've never loved Over My Shoulder But Porcelain is just gorgeous!

[suzie]

Funny as to me it was not OMS it reminded me of but a huge hit from over a decade ago  - mainly because of the piano riff. Most likely the whole instrumental part was added to the song by his collaborators though ...So I understand the comparison to OMS in a way (and he also said it), but to me OMS has classical roots whilst this one is 'just' a pop song - a really good one though. If I am to compare it to a Mika song, I'd say it is more like the version of  'Overrated' on the last album.

 

Yeah the (British?) "r" after every A... I've heard it quite often with "idear" too, my English teacher would always say that, though she has an Australian accent.

But as far as I'm concerned his pronounciation has always been a bit odd

 

I think Mika doesn't always do this after an A sound but because the next word is a vowel the R links them together. And yes he has had some weird weird phrasing in his songs for sure. I think this "sofar" for "sofa" though is natural for many Brits though, like you said unlike some of his other odd pronunciations that are Mika inventions.

 

I remember learning about it at phonology / morphology classes at the university: it is called and intrusive R and as I remember we were told that native speakers all talk like that, independent of their accent. Now I realize it may sound odd / old fashioned even to native speakers

[Christine]

Funny as to me it was not OMS it reminded me of but a huge hit from over a decade ago  - mainly because of the piano riff. Most likely the whole instrumental part was added to the song by his collaborators though ...So I understand the comparison to OMS in a way (and he also said it), but to me OMS has classical roots whilst this one is 'just' a pop song - a really good one though. If I am to compare it to a Mika song, I'd say it is more like the version of  'Overrated' on the last album.

Noooo Overrated is my favourite song from TOOL and I can't stand Porcelain. Someone asked me if "porcelain" was a euphemism for "toilet" and all I can think of now is Mika slitting his wrists over a toilet. I can't even listen to it. It makes me want to blow my brains out.  

 

To me the difference between OMS and Porcelain is that OMS was more abstract and raw. Porcelain is such a contrived piece of teenage emo which is ironic because OMS was written when he really was an emo teen OMS has always sounded like it's still at the demo stage but Porcelain is overproduced.

 

I remember learning about it at phonology / morphology classes at the university: it is called and intrusive R and as I remember we were told that native speakers all talk like that, independent of their accent. Now I realize it may sound odd / old fashioned even to native speakers

 

Speakers with rhotic accents never use an intrusive R. So it's prominent in places with non-rhotic accents like most of England, Australia, parts of the US, etc. I don't think any region of Canada has a non-rhotic accent or uses intrusive Rs. Our east coast accents are closer to Irish than British English.